Introduction

This book draws attention to the ways in which refugee women are represented in Australian government settlement education policy,2 the effects of those representations, and the ways in which those representations might be challenged and interrupted. I explore the broader socio historical context in which representations of refugee women have arisen since the inception of the Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (UNHCR 2010) and examine the material consequences of these representations in policy and practice. I draw on the work of researchers, activists and community workers who propose new and different ways of engaging with and representing refugee communities, and in particular refugee women, to illustrate the ways in which representation and policy making can be done differently. As evidence that creating different paradigms for representation can materially affect our approaches to policy, I share feedback and analysis from my own interviews with refugee women about the purposes of education. These interviews illustrate the possibilities for representation beyond the marginalising and limiting representations of refugee women that have dominated much refugee policy.